


A Conversation You Can't Understand

by Lazchan



Series: Tiger's Friendship [3]
Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-11
Updated: 2017-01-11
Packaged: 2018-09-16 19:43:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,929
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9287060
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lazchan/pseuds/Lazchan
Summary: Yuuri takes a quiet moment for himself to skate when no one is watching





	

Yuuri waited until he was almost out the door before wrapping the scarf around his face; Russia was so much colder than Hasetsu and even though he had been there before, it was still a shock to feel the cold wind biting across his cheeks and down the back of his jacket. He didn't really have any set plans for the day; he wasn't training with Viktor today and so he had most of the day to himself. _Viktor_ was training with Yakov and it was just one of the compromises they had made as coach and competitor. It was still a shaky balance, but Yuuri had a feeling that they could work it all out.

He still wanted to _skate_ , though and he knew that the area had some public rinks and he smiled a little to himself at being able to skate in a place where he wasn’t known. Even at the rink they used for practice, there were still people that came in for public skating or those that wanted to watch their heroes, Viktor Nikiforov and Yuri Plisetsky in action. He was noticed as well, even just in the context of Viktor. 

_Without Viktor nearby, I'll just be one more tourist, out in the cold and enjoying the frozen arenas._  On such a cloudy day, with snowflakes doting the area in tiny swirls, it was one of those days that people took pictures and videos of and Yuuri intended to be one of them, no matter the teasing he'd get from everyone later for acting like such a tourist. He still felt like one, just a little, even if he decided to move to Russia to train and be with Viktor.

It wouldn't hurt to explore a little at first; sometimes the peace of his own mind was needed and just wandering out his own helped clear out the anxiety in his heart. Even if he didn't really know the language that well, being able to just walk along and listen to people was comforting, especially when he didn’t have to engage in conversation. As much as he cared for Viktor, going out with him usually had fans popping out from weird corners and even sometimes with Yuri earned the same response. Yuuri had learned to avoid the corners that had clumps of teenage girls when he was out with him; they invariably would try and latch onto Yuri and Yuuri had to overcome his own laughter to extract their 'hero' from overeager fans.

He had stopped in little shops and had ordered hot tea to go; something he had been proud of being able to do; the bits and pieces of lessons had stuck, along with a great deal of listening to other people and imitating the words. He found himself in front of a decent sized rink, lights strung up overhead, creating a hazy sort of atmosphere. Even in the cold, there were a number of skaters out of all kinds and as he laced up his skates and watched, it was nice to see that even in different countries, the people on the ice were the same.

There were the newcomers and uncertain skaters, that held close to the rink wall, gloved hands gripped the edges and skates slipping on the ice. He knew some of them would move away as the realized the ice wouldn't shift away on them, even as… he winced as a boy lost his balance and fell to the ice, nearly taking out a child and her mother as he spun across the slick surface. There were the ones with more confidence, but still uncertain strokes, each movement measured and calculated. There were both serious frowns as if all their concentration was taken by the movements and then others with bright smiles as they realized that skating could be _fun_. His eye was caught by a kid that spun around in a circle, her hands held out in a 'ta-da' motion, looking pleased with herself and then skating off, only to repeat the motion further along the rink.

Then there were the girls in the center of the rink, practicing spins and jumps—the potential figure skaters or those that saw a program or two and wanted to repeat it. He and Yuuko had been like that; he had been more serious and had, of course, continued it. It was a toss-up whether this small set was going to go forth or just have fun, but either way, it warmed him through to see people doing what he loved so much. He wasn't here to figure skate or think about any routines. He was here to simply lose himself in the familiar motions across the ice. 

The music across the speakers was scratchy and peppy and mostly lost in the conversations spread across the ice. Encouragements and laughter and cursing—it was all a big jumble. As Yuuri skated in between people, he lost himself in the movements and tried to listen and understand what was being said. As he skated closer to the figure skating newbies, he had to smile to himself as he heard Yuri's name. It seemed that the 'new hero' of Russia was inspiring kids all over the place and he reminded himself to tease Yuri later about the pint-sized figure skaters doing spins and waltz jumps while talking excitedly about the teenage 'monster' that had broken several records during his first senior season.

He couldn't help but reach out a hand to someone that had slipped, guiding them into standing a little steadier on the ice. He missed the grateful and surprised look they gave him as he paused on the ice to watch the trio of skaters. He almost offered them advice as well, but he didn’t want to interfere with them and he was more uncertain of his Russian _here_ to really speak with them.

As the music changed from one song to another, he got into the rhythm of it all, eyes half closed as he moved around the arena, feet moving in an unconscious dance, years of repetition and muscle memory taking over. It was almost like home when the Ice Castle was open to the public, when he skated as a teenager without any worries other than trying to put the love of dance Minako-sensei instilled into him into skating. 

He tugged away the scarf from his face; even in the cold, he had warmed up considerable from the constant movement. There was more chatter around him, but he pushed it to the back of his mind, not really paying attention to anything at that point, he was so lost in himself. 

So it was a shock when the familiar harsh sound of skating sounded in his ears and he turned to the side, eyes with surprise to see Yuri there, looking annoyed as he tugged down his own scarf to scowl at Yuuri. There was a sudden surge of conversation around him and Yuuri heard Yuri's name again and he had to smile a little. 

"You're going to cause a stampede on the ice," he teased him. "You have a lot of fans here, Yuri." He made a halfway gesture towards where he knew the trio of girls were. "You even have your very own set of girls that see you as their idol." 

Yuri gave him a blank look and then ran a hand over his face. "You… you didn't do it on purpose. _Again_. Katsudon, you're the one causing all the fuss here. They're used to _me_ skating here. I used to do it as a kid. You—you, though—" 

When Yuuri gave him an uncomprehending look, Yuri growled and began towing him by his scarf to the edge of the rink, so that they weren't in the middle of people actually trying to skate. "You really are an idiot," he muttered, fishing out his phone and showing him a series of photos that had pinged all over SNS with the tag of Yuuri's name. "Why were you skating out in public without even thinking about people … " he sighed. 

Yuuri stared at him, brows furrowed and nudged Yuri out of the way of another wall-clinger. "I… I didn't think I'd be recognized," he said. He wanted to deny it, but there were too many pictures to do so and he felt his cheeks burn with the realization. "I mean—not without you or Viktor…" his voice trailed off at Yuri's disbelieving snort. 

"You go out onto a public rink in the middle of town and … and skate like you always do, with those ridiculous steps…" he blustered, his ears red from more than just the cold. "You stick out like a sore thumb, Yuuri," he muttered. "And you have fans in Russia, too. You may have only gotten silver, but you broke _Viktor's_ record. That had more people than just your home country looking at you." 

Yuuri blinked and looked back at the rink, a lot of people were still skating, blissfully unaware of what was going on and then he noticed the others; the trio of skaters in the middle, the person he had helped steady on the ice and then a set of older woman that ducked behind the rink when he looked their way. 

His ears burned now and he wrapped the scarf around his face and tugged his hat so low on his head that it nearly covered his eyes. "I just wanted to skate without everyone staring," he mumbled. "I didn't think it'd be a big deal… there's so many tourists and stuff around that I'd just blend in." 

Yuri laughed and for once it wasn't tinged with anger. He pushed Yuri's hat back up and smirked at him. "You, Yuuri Katsuki, cannot blend in on the ice, if you tried." He gave him a shove back onto the ice proper. 

Yuuri rolled his eyes and managed to snag the edge of Yuri's scarf and yank him along with him and smirked at the startled squawk he earned from the younger boy. "I excel at blending in, I'll have you know," he teased. "Even when skating." Most eyes had turned to them now; some may have been uncertain about Yuuri's presence, but almost everyone knew _Yuri_ , the fifteen year old legend that had skated in his first GPX and gotten gold. 

Yuri's half-formed plan to get both of them away from the rink and out of the public fell apart as they were both surrounded by a crowd of eager skaters and Yuri was feeling surprised and pleased enough at the attention that he even translated the rapid-fire Russian for  Yuuri.

It wasn't exactly how Yuuri had planned the rest of his day to go, but even with Yuri's half-hearted annoyed glares toward him for this unexpected interruption for his day, there was that bright smile as well at all the attention.

~

Mila giggled when she saw the look on Viktor's face as they both rested after their own grueling practices. "Missing Yuuri?" she teased him, draping herself over him to get a better look at his phone. "Aw, look at that—our little Yuri duo is getting along finally."

Viktor made a face, but he smiled down at the picture someone had uploaded to the Yuuri tag, It was the two of the most popular and talked about figure skaters in a public rink, hands out and helping a trio of little girls that held nothing but worship in their eyes as they looked up at their idols.

 


End file.
